Dr. Jonathan W. Evans
Research Interests
I am broadly interested in lasers, laser spectroscopy, beam pointing, military laser systems, and laser-based remote sensing. My most salient interests have been novel solid-state laser sources in the mid- and longwave-infrared wavebands. I am intimately familiar with such sources based on semiconductors, doped crystals, and nonlinear optical converters. Lasers and amplifiers of these kinds present significant challenges not encountered by the familiar directed energy systems operating in the near-infrared spectral region. First, the materials available in these wavebands are often difficult to fabricate without specialized equipment and are often available only in small quantities at great expense. Second, the opto-electronics that enable many advanced techniques in the near-infrared are not available or are immature in the mid- and longwave-infrared wavebands. Third, directing beams at these wavelengths is challenging due to limitations driven by aperture size as well as system-level considerations. Finally, diode-pumped systems in this region generally suffer from severe quantum defect, making efficiency poor relative to similar near-infrared sources. My primary interest in future research is to overcome these obstacles to make it practical to field systems addressing mission needs in this developing region of the spectrum.